icarlyfandomcom-20200222-history
User blog:3cooldog92/How To Write A Seddie Fanfiction
How To Write Seddie Fan Fiction This is a blog about how to write Seddie fan fiction. I’m no expert on this, having only written 8 stories, but there’s almost nothing online about how to write fan fiction. I couldn’t find one thing about how to write Seddie fan fiction. I have never gotten a bad review, so that must mean something. So I may not be the most experienced at writing fan fiction, but no one else has given tips on writing Seddie fan fiction, so I guess I will. Read fan fiction. ''' This is very, very important. I read literally hundreds of one shots before I attempted my first fanfic (you don’t have to do this all at once; it took me 8 months). It helps you learn what works and what doesn’t. If you read the reviews of the fics other people have written, you can get an idea of what people like and what people don’t like. They say reading makes you a better writer, and that is 100% true when it comes to fan fiction, as well as other kinds of writing. I’d say this is the biggest thing that makes me a good Seddie fanfic writer. '''Watch all the episodes. It may seem like a no brainer to try not to write a fanfic about show you’ve only seen 2 episodes of, but don’t do it. Watching all the episodes allows you to know what the characters are like, see how they’ve developed over the series, and it gives you perspective on the whole thing. Knowing what happens in all the episodes prevents you from looking stupid later. Plus it gives you plenty places to start a fic. Know the characters. '''This involves the point above, but I just want to say what I mean by this. Knowing how the characters act is only the first step. You also need to know why they act the way they do. Obviously there’s an immediate cause, but a lot of time a character’s actions are influenced by what their life is like or what happened a long time ago. For example, a lot of fics explore why Sam didn’t tell Freddie how she felt until her emotions overtook her in iOMG. Based on this, you have to try to figure out how a character thinks. This will make your stories more realistic and it will be less likely to be OOC. Reading Seddie forums can really help you get inside a character’s head. '''Keep the Seddie interaction believable. '''This goes along with knowing the characters. Don’t make Sam and Freddie act like two love birds who baby talk each other. Romance between Sam and Freddie is different than romance between Carly and Freddie for example. Seddie fanfics generally require a different writing style than a non love-hate couple. Just make sure the love-hate dynamic stays there. '''Choose whether you want to do first person or third person. Choose first person if you want to get inside a character’s head and describe how they’re feeling. Choose third person if you’re less concerned about that kind of stuff and want to focus on the plot more than how a character thinks. I personally only write in first person, because how the characters are feeling is really what I like to focus on. If you choose first person, minimize the changes in POV. '''I’ve found that people don’t like it when you switch between the characters’ POVs too much. So choose a character and stick to it as much as you can, unless you’re switching POVs very infrequently. The first fic I’ve ever written, iFredbear, is a great example of this. The whole thing is in Sam’s POV, except the part where Freddie walks in on her sleeping with the teddy bear with a tear stained face. Since Sam was sleeping, I obviously couldn’t do it from her POV, so I switched to Freddie’s. That kind of switch is okay. But as soon as Sam woke up, I switched back to Sam’s POV. '''Be descriptive. '''Describe what everyone is doing in detail. Describe the look on someone’s face, how they’re saying something. Stuff like that. A fic that has “Freddie did this. Sam did that. Carly did this.” throughout the whole thing become repetitive and boring very quickly. Make your fic more than a bunch of talking heads. '''Don’t make too cheesy unless that’s your stated intention. '''Most fics have characters falling in love, so there’s always going to be an element of cheesiness, even with a Seddie fic. But with Seddie, you have to strike the right balance. If it becomes too cheesy it becomes OOC. If they’re in love, you can’t avoid being a little cheesy. But don’t overdo it. Sam may be in love, but she’ll probably want to keep the PDA to a minimum. When it’s just Sam and Freddie together alone, you have more leeway with this kind of stuff. '''If you want to make a fic that is blatantly OOC or way too cheesy, go for it, but warn your readers upfront. '''Sometimes people will do that, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But make sure you tell your readers what you’re doing. No one likes to be tricked into reading something that they couldn't have a reasonably expected to read when they clicked on a Seddie fanfic. '''One line per dialogue. '''Make a new line every time a character talks and every time a new character starts talking. It makes it easier to read. '''Use paragraphs. '''One huge block is hard to read so break your fic into paragraphs. There’s different ways to choose when a paragraph should end, but if you’re not sure try using one paragraph per scene. '''Warn your reader if your fic has a sad ending. Some people like sad fics, others don’t. Some people don’t want to read a sad fic and be depressed for the rest of the day. So make sure people know what they’re in for if you go this route. I personally find it really annoying when people don’t warn me about the sad ending. Emotions are key. '''Good fics make the reader feel emotions whether that’s happiness, sadness, or anger. Making it clear how the characters feel help with making the reader feel something. '''Use the rating system. '''iCarly is kid’s show, so this is especially important. If your fic has material that kids shouldn’t be reading, rate your fic appropriately. T is if there are references to inappropriate things. M is for graphic depictions of those things. Let me make a special note about cursing. If there are only a few curse words or they’re limited to hell, damn, and ass, you can get away with a K rating. But if you’re using words worse than those 3 a lot, you should rate it T. I’d say you can get away with rating it K unless you’re using really bad words a lot. Use common sense here and you’ll be fine. '''Only put author’s notes at the beginning and end and bold them. '''If you want to talk to your reader directly, use author’s notes. But only put them before the beginning or after the end. Putting them in the middle makes them hard to find and it’s annoying. Make sure to put author’s notes in bold so they stand out from your story. '''Be prepared for negative feedback. '''I’ve never gotten a negative review, but I have had people tell me how I can improve. Be prepared for both scenarios. Just don’t’ get too discouraged if you get a bad review. Just try to make your next fic better. Heck, you could even rewrite the fic you got a bad review on. '''Don't post a fic until you're completely done. '''People find it really annoying when someone starts a fic and never finishes it. You may get bored with a fic, get writers block, or something totally unexpected to could happen. Don't make your readers get halfway into a story and then never finish it. Avoid this situation by not posting the fic until you're done. If you have a lot of chapters, it's okay to post one chapter at a time, but don't post until the end is done. '''Don't hold the next chapter of your fic hostage to getting a certain number of reviews. That's a cheap way to get reviews and it's not fair to the people who did review your fic. '''Use proper spelling/grammar and proofread. '''This is important, but it’s not the end of the world if you make one mistake. People won’t go nuts on you if you misspell a word or two in you 5000 word story. But if you’re misspelling every other word and you’re not using punctuation, your fic will be hard to read and you’ll look ignorant. Just do your best with this. To that end, proofread your work. Once you’re done, wait at least an hour and go back to it and reread it. Most likely it will be riddled with stupid errors that spellcheck didn’t catch. When I reread my work, I find so many easy to fix errors I feel stupid. Don’t just rely on spellcheck. Reread your work after you take a break. You’ll be surprised how many typos spellcheck didn’t catch. One option is a beta reader. That’s someone you send your work to who will do the proofreading for you. The advantage of that is that they may catch errors you don’t because they’re not as attached to the story as you. You can find beta readers on fanfiction.net. Personally I don’t use a beta reader because I don’t want anyone reading my work until I post it. I may be paranoid about beta readers, but I just wait a while and then go back and reread my work. But know that the option of a beta reader is there if you want it. '''While I can suggest guidelines on how to write a Seddie fanfic, you're still free to use your imagination to its fullest extent. '''Just because an idea you may have goes against what I've said here doesn't mean that you shouldn't go for it. Being blatantly OOC or way too chessy on purpose are two things above I've mentioned. But really you're free to do whatever you want. These guidelines are not set in stone rules you must follow at all times. Be creative. Try new things. But if you're going to do something that Seddie fics don't normally do, your readers will appreciate it if you warn them first. Thanks to @Godlovesusall for this last one. He's a hard core Creddie shipper, but this applies to all fanfiction, as well as a lot of my other points that aren't Seddie specific. He also helped me reword one of my points above. That’s about it. Like I said, there are people out there that are in a much better position to give advice on writing Seddie fan fiction, but they’re not, so I figured I’d share what I’ve learned so far. If you have any questions or tips of your own, please comment below. Category:Blog posts